East Kilbride may not have the most obvious links with secretive military intelligence agencies and the worldwide war on terror.

Yet, hidden away in a business park just outside the town centre, is a company quietly developing intelligence gathering software being used by police forces and government agencies across the globe.

David Carrick, chief executive of software developer Memex, has taken a historically under-performing company and transformed it into a world leader in intelligence gathering.

The company's previous owners, MR Data, offloaded Memex to Carrick for just under £1 million in 2001 - a fraction of what the company believed it was actually worth.

Carrick says he was in just the right place at the right time to capitalise in the wake of the dot-com crash.

He said: "I joined Memex in the early 1990s as a software developer, before the onset of the internet age when we were developing very basic search engines which a customer could plug-in to their computers and do data searches with.

"The business always had real potential, but it didn't have a clear focus in the early days, and was really under performing.

"Over the course of the 1990s I had risen through the ranks in the company to become head of development.

"In 1997, I was asked to take over the business by MR Data, but the board made it clear they wanted the company to become profitable because they had a view to sell it in a couple of years.

"My primary concern at the time was to last longer than the last CEO, who was in the job for 14 months, but then the dot-com bubble burst and MR Data's parent company's share price collapsed and suddenly everything was up for sale.

"I knew Memex was an amazing company with real potential, but I really didn't know anything about leading a management buyout, despite having at that time recently completed my MBA at Strathclyde University.

"What I did learn from getting my MBA was that people like myself, from a fairly normal, working class background could own and run a company.

"So I suggested a buyout, and MR Data said they were interested, provided I could put it together quickly "It hen put together some estimates and spoke with Scottish Enterprise and they put me in touch with some businesses who could help me to put the business plan together.

"We were quite a green company at that point, and probably didn't have the pedigree investors were looking for.

"I applied to the Strathclyde Innovation Fund - they told me they didn't normally invest in this type of business but gave me the chance to meet with them and do a presentation.

"We presented our business plan and the board was really impressed, and within a week the main fund managers came up to see us and said they'd like to supportus."

Carrick knew the company's core intelligence gathering software had real potential if the problem of configuration could be resolved.

A stumbling block to driving sales in the United States had been the complexity in changing even simple terminology in the original software design.

"Our applications were just so hard coded and weren't that configurable or change able that it didn't make sense to the police force sin the US," Carrick said.

"So we looked at the system and decided if we really wanted to market it successfully we had to be able to make changes to the system really easily because everywhere we go, it's slightly different.

"The next generation of the system we built again from scratch, but this time we took all of the functionality of the old system and added configuration tools to it, and then sales really took off."

Since the 2001 buyout, Memex has grown from 25 to 80 employees and last year recorded turnover of £8m, with£10m pluspredictedfor2009.

Carrick said: "This year could be great for us because this is the first time in our history where we have real opportunities developing in the UK, the US and the international markets at the same time.

"We have just opened a new office in California, and another in South Africa to develop new opportunities there.

"There is also the push for the fusion centres in the US and as such they are very well funded, so we see that as being a big part of our future growth in the US.

"We are also looking to develop the commercial side of the business, and we have a fantastic partnership agreement in place in Spain at the moment which we may look to replicate in other countries as we expand."

A somewhat ironic twist in the story of Memex's success is how little business the company actually does in the UK - a disparity Carrick intends to address in the coming years.

Memex had previously sold intelligence gathering software to a number of police forces across the UK, but lost many of these contracts in the late 1990s due to the configuration problems evident in the earlier versions of the system.

However, major intelligence infrastructure systems are now planned for police forces throughout the UK and many of them are already in talks with Memex to provide them with software.

Following the Bichard Inquiry into police intelligence gathering, conducted in the wake of Ian Huntley's conviction for the murders of Holly Wells and lessica Chapman, a nationwide intelligence gathering apparatus was recommended to join police forces throughout the UK

Carrick says there is enormous potential for Memex when funding for these systems is finally app roved.

He said: "We expect to capitalise on more opportunities in the UK than we have until now because in the last few years we have seen the proposed merging of police forces all but disappear. That should free things up for us, because a lot of these forces were waiting to see what would happen there before they bought a new system

"And as a result of the findings of the Bichard Inquiry, a cross country intelligence system will now be setup."

Although the UK market for Memex has been slow until now, its initial success in designing software for the US military during the 1990s has led to significant growth opportunities in the new, multi-agency fusion centres now being setup.

Carrick said: "The fusion centres in the US, currently being set up by the department of homeland security, will play a major part in our future growth in the US.

"These centres are basically task forces which draw people from a number of law enforcement and government departments and put them all under one roof.

"We have already done a few of these fusion centres now across the US, and that has been driven by a lot of our older customers adapting Memex software for these new fusion centres."

Another growth area for Memex in the United States at the moment is developing intelligence gathering systems for the country's prison service.

Although Memex has so far focused on the military intelligence and law enforcement sectors, the commercial sector is now taking an interest in the software as a risk assessment tool.

Memex has already sold systems to the insurance sector, but the banks in Scotland are beginning to take notice of Memex software with a view to adopting more stringent risk assessment tools.

Carrick said: "We've worked with a number of commercial organisations looking to gather commercial intelligence, and we've sold our system to a few insurance companies.

"The risk and security departments of a few large companies have bought our intelligence gathering solutions because they have brought in staff from law enforcement who have promoted the Memex software to their new employers.

"We have been talking with the banks in Scotland and what we could do for them in terms of risk assessment

"A lot of them think it's a great idea, but the question for now is whether they will be willing to fund new offerings like ours."

'We have sold our system to a few insurance firms and we have been talking with banks in Scotland about what we could do for the min terms of risk a ssessment'